* * * * *
Here are Mr. Webster's minutes of his famous conversation with Mr.
Jefferson when he visited him in December, 1824. They were afterward
published in full from these _memoranda_. They are written on two pages
of a very small sheet of note-paper. But they contain, among other
things, a graphic portrait of Patrick Henry, his tribute to Sam Adams
as more than any other man the author of Revolutionary measures; to John
Adams as the colossus of the great debate of liberty which preceded the
Declaration of Independence; Mr. Jay's authorship of the Address to the
People of England, one of the four greatest state papers in our history;
of the fact that Richard Henry Lee came near being a stamp-master, and
the fact that Virginia and the New England States always acted together
and carried through the Revolution, picking up a few other votes where
they could:
"Paris— panther—red deer
Buffon moose—Genl
Sullivan—40 guineas
P. Henry—Plutarch's lives—
Humes essays—
a bar keeper—
Studied law a fortnight—
Fast— from Ol. Cromwell's
model ————
"Sam'l Adams—more than any man author of Revol.
measures—but Jno. A. the Colossus of Debate.
"Mr. Jay wrote address to people of England—
"R. H. Lee—solicited, at first to be stamp-master—
"Va. & 4 N. E. States always acted together, _they_ carried
thro' the Revolution—picking up a few other votes where they
could—"
[Illustration]
* * * * *
Next comes a letter from Lord Ashburton, written from London, June
18, 1852, interesting for the confession of that sincere and candid
Englishman, that he did not pretend to be a free-trader for America.
If many of our English advisers, and many Americans who have been prone
to take their advice, had been as sensible as Lord Ashburton, it would
have been much better for all concerned. This letter, as some others
of Ashburton's which have been published heretofore, is a thorough
refutation, if any were needed after Edward Everett's conclusive
statement, of the old slander once uttered in Parliament, and occasionally
revived on both sides of the Atlantic, that Mr. Webster obtained dishonest
advantage over the English Commissioner by suppressing an ancient map
wherein the boundary between Maine and Nova Scotia had been traced
in conformity with the British claim. Lord Ashburton's expressions of
friendship and esteem for Mr. Webster are wholly inconsistent with such
a transaction:
"LONDON, June 18th, '52.
"MY DEAR MR. WEBSTER,
"It was with no small pleasure that I recognised your handwriting, and
accepted the very grateful office of shewing civility to your friend.
"I fear that our climate at this moment will prove anything but beneficial
to his daughter's health. We are now paying the penalty for three months
of drought; I wish for his sake that he had arrived at an earlier period.
"We expect very little change in the relative strength of parties from
the coming elections. The popular element must always gain, but less on
this occasion than on any other, as the masses are enjoying in comfort
the blessings of cheap food & abundant employment. The farmer even is
thriving. He sells mutton of the growth of 18 months, he saves 20 per cent
in the cost of labor. He economises in the purchase of all he consumes.
Forgive this burst of Peelite exultation in consideration of the abuse
& odium under which we have been laboring.
"Let me add however that I do not pretend to be a free trader for America,
and thus oppose myself to your powerful authority. Believe me my dear
Mr. Webster
"Yours very truly
ASHBURTON."
* * * * *
The following letter, addressed to Mr. Webster's law partner, John P.
Healey, with its enclosure, has never been printed. Allusions are found
to it in other letters of Mr. Webster written from London, contained in
Mr. Webster's published correspondence. It is probable that Mr. Webster's
friends in Boston took the liberty of withholding his letter refusing to
be a candidate. At any rate, his name was presented to the Whig National
Convention held at Harrisburg in October(?), 1839. That convention was
held more than a year before the election. The delegates from each State
were requested to present to the convention the name of their own choice
for the Presidency, and with it the name of the other person whom they
thought likely to be the strongest candidate in case their own selection
were not adopted by the convention. These reports of the different
delegations were all referred to a grand committee with instructions to
recommend a candidate to the convention. The result was the nomination
of General Harrison by a large majority. Then a committee was appointed
to select a candidate for the Vice-Presidency. That committee first
agreed upon the name of Benjamin Watkins Leigh, but, on his refusal to
be a candidate, reported the name of John Tyler, with most unfortunate
results for the Whig party:
"LONDON, June 12, '39.
"DR SIR,—Please cause the enclosed to be published, the same day, in
all the Whig newspapers in Boston, & as soon as you receive it.
Yrs
D. WEBSTER.
"_To the People of Massachusetts._
"It is known that my name has been presented to the Public, by a meeting
of Members of the Legislature of the State, as a candidate for the office
of President of the United States at the ensuing Election. As it has been
expected that a Convention would be holden in the autumn of this year,
composed of Delegates from the Several States, I have hitherto thought
proper not to anticipate, in any way, the results of that Convention.
But I am now out of the country, not to return, probably, much earlier
than the period fixed for the meeting of the convention, and do not
know what events may occur, in the meantime, which, if I were at home,
might demand immediate attention from me. I desire, moreover, to act no
part which may tend to prevent a cordial & effective union among those,
whose object, I trust, is to maintain, unimpaired, the Constitution of
the Country, and to uphold all its great interests, by a wise, prudent,
and patriotic administration of the Government. These considerations
have induced me to withdraw my name as a Candidate for the office of
President at the next Election.
"DAN'L WEBSTER.
"LONDON, June 12, 1839."
* * * * *
Mr. Webster was counsel in the celebrated case of Myra Clark Gaines, the
wife of General Gaines, who laid claim to a large property in Louisiana
as the daughter of Daniel Clark by an alleged marriage with Zuleima
Carriere. This marriage was denied, and it was also alleged that the
mother of Mrs. Gaines had, at the time of the alleged marriage, another
lawful husband living.
Mr. Webster's brief, which is in his own writing, consists of seventeen
pages of manuscript notes. It contains nothing specially striking except
an observation about one of the witnesses, a woman who seems to have
been called to prove a marriage of reputation, and seems to have been
one of three female witnesses called by the same party. Mr. Webster's
memorandum for his arguments is this:
"There is but one witness. And who is she? Who are they all? Not
respectable women at that period. All three alike.
Facies non omnibus una
Nec diversa tamen, qualem decet esse sororum.